Dear Santa, I’d Like Some Head

Well, not just any head. While I’m just a lowly graduate student and teacher, I still think I can make wishlists. Back in November, I made a post about an auction containing 110 year old condoms. My birthday came and went (look at my name and take a wild guess about when it is), and there were no vintage condoms wrapped in a bow for birthday or any holidays. I still had a great time, and I’m not really sure what I’d do with those condoms anyway. But then my friend S posted in her journal about the head of the patron saint of sexually transmitted infections (for the record, his name is Saint Vitalis of Assisi) going up for auction!

Maybe this was a patron saint that my school glossed over, as I’d never heard of Saint Vitalis before this. Apparently, Saint Vitalis had a bit of a wild youth. After some rollicking good times in 17th century Italy, he felt kind of bad for partying it up like a rock star and became a monk to atone for his youth. Many saints had some miracles of some sort occur (personally, I loved the story of Saint Cecilia who was given vision back), and Saint Vitalis was no exception. Stories of his miraculous healing spread far and wide – apparently, he was able to heal those with “bladder and genital disorders” (according to the BBC). I’m not really sure where I would put the head in my house, and it looks a bit unwieldy for me to toss in my backseat and lug around campus for a makeshift show and tell. Maybe it could fit in sitting on my fireplace mantel?

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Holly Moyseenko is a sex educator living in Ohio. She is an advocate of positive and healthy sexuality. Holly currently works for a non-profit health organization as a health educator, and also teaches workshops that focus on many topics within the realm of healthy sexuality. In her spare time, she also is an advocate for survivors of sexual assault, gardens, reads anything within reach, drinks copious amounts of tea, and naps with her two dogs.

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